Palm Beach/Dade/Ft Lauderdale WTF?

[tunnelmot]

Hello from Texas
I have a question for the locals.-Yes, I have looked at the DB. But I would love some real-world advice.
-I have surplus equipment I am attempting to pass on to my brother who resides in Lauderdale Co and works in Palm Beach Co. This entails Moto XTS P25 Ph1&UHF conventional hardware for monitoring.
-Looking at the DB I see widespread encryption...is there anything(PD)left to monitor?
-He is frequently in the Miami area which I see is still monitorable. Are there immanent changes afoot?
-Given the geographic area, what TGs/conventional channels would yield the best activity.
-His family frequents the many beaches/parks. Are there any lifeguard talkgroups or conventional freqs ya'll recommend?

To be clear, I am very familiar with trunking, P25 (trunking,scanner,and public safety grade hardware) but am astounded by the level of encryption and am looking for advice on what is actually monitorable along this corridor.

Thanks in advance from and hopefully I can get some on-the-ground reports.

 

[N4KVE]

BSO is still analog, but testing the new system, so they’ll be gone soon. Don’t know if the new system is encrypted. West Palm Beach, & Ft. Lauderdale are both Phase 1, & not encrypted. Hollywood can still be monitored, & I don’t know if they’re going with the new BSO system. Palm Beach County Sheriff is Phase 2, & encrypted, but Fire Rescue is not, so that can be monitored.

 

[Skyforce]

Broward County has been in testing mode for it's new P25 radio system for some time. Word came down this week that BC Sheriff Dept and BC Sheriff Fire Rescue will begin their migration on 9/21/2020. It is estimated to take 3 weeks for full transistion. Uniden SDS100 and 200 scanners as well as the Home Patrol 2 scanner will work with the new system, older scanners, not. Same thing in Miami-Dade County.. Miami-Dade PD is on the Harris system Phase 2. Hialeah PD and Fire, Miami Gardens PD, City of Miami PD and Fire, Coral Gables PD and Fire , and Miami Beach PD and Fire are in the process. Miami-Dade Fire remains on the 450 band.

 

[APX8000]

Just to clarify....
Broward - BSO dispatch channels will remain clear. Expect to see all the specialized channels go ENC. Fire-Rescue will be clear. All Phase II.

So pretty much all law enforcement in Broward and Miami-Dade County (with the exception of Coral Gables, Hialeah and Aventura) main dispatch will remain or are in the clear. But they all can go to an encrypted tac if needs call for it and most specialized units are or will be ENC. PBSO....they encrypted everything except their LE CALL and LE COMM channels...but when the stuff hits the fan, they usually patch or go to it. Still lots to listen to hear.

Now I will end with one thing...and this is not an attack on this site, but I have sat in meetings and when feeds start showing up online with PD talkgroups, things may change.

 

[N4DES]

Hello from Texas
I have a question for the locals.-Yes, I have looked at the DB. But I would love some real-world advice.
-I have surplus equipment I am attempting to pass on to my brother who resides in Lauderdale Co and works in Palm Beach Co. This entails Moto XTS P25 Ph1&UHF conventional hardware for monitoring.
-Looking at the DB I see widespread encryption...is there anything(PD)left to monitor?
-He is frequently in the Miami area which I see is still monitorable. Are there immanent changes afoot?
-Given the geographic area, what TGs/conventional channels would yield the best activity.
-His family frequents the many beaches/parks. Are there any lifeguard talkgroups or conventional freqs ya'll recommend?

To be clear, I am very familiar with trunking, P25 (trunking,scanner,and public safety grade hardware) but am astounded by the level of encryption and am looking for advice on what is actually monitorable along this corridor.

Thanks in advance from and hopefully I can get some on-the-ground reports.

Being PBSO has absorbed the majority of the smaller PD's in the Palm Beach County only Lantana and Palm Springs are available county-wide.
West Palm PD has its own system, that has municipal coverage, and can be monitored if you are in the area.
Palm Beach Gardens, Tequesta, Jupiter, Town of Palm Beach, Atlantis, Juno, and School Board police are Harris OpenSky and not monitorable.
Boca, Boynton, and Delray Beach who all have their own municipal systems has LE fully encrypted.

The only FD you can't listen to is the Town of Palm Beach.

Marine Channel 16 is always very busy on the weekends and at times very entertaining especially when the Coast Guard comes on.

 

[N4DES]

PBSO....they encrypted everything except their LE CALL and LE COMM channels...but when the stuff hits the fan, they usually patch or go to it. Still lots to listen to hear.

The LE Common's aren't PBSO's. With the exception of Public Works, all LE and FD agencies have access to them and PBSO isn't always involved in their use. The only thing PBSO does on a regular basis is to put BOLO's and priority calls on LE Call.

Broward has followed the Palm Beach County design for LE interoperability (that we have had in place since 2001) and is using the same naming convention for their Commons. Once they go live the LE Common naming convention will be in place from St. Lucie County south to the Broward/Miami-Dade line.

 

[tunnelmot]

Thanks to all for the response. Hopefully I can set my brother up with something from here in Texas.

 

[tunnelmot]

Again thanks to all for the responses! If you peek at my post history you will see that I am very familiar with these systems, but I am not local so actual channel usage is foreign to me..In a nutshell I'm trying to properly program what is feasible with my surplus gear to get his feet wet.

Question 1 (Miami Dade PD)
I see both clear and encrypted dispatch TGs on the Miami Dade system (sys 065). An example is MDPD 1 (Hex 3aaf) is clear, but the other dispatch TGs (ex. 6b58,7530,753d) are dark. I notice the TGs above 27000 favor encryption. In my locale, the higher TGs are Phase 2 only.

Question 2 (Miami Dade Fire)
Is MDFR still UHF primary? If so, what are the response channels? Is dispatch and response/on scene handled on the N,S,E,W Dispatch channels or if not what are the corresponding response channels (Tac 1-6 or T Comm)?

Question 3 (Palm Beach County EMS)
I see PBC is served by AMR. The database lists the UHF ambulance to hospital channels, but what is their main dispatch channels (or system). What do ya'll reccomend for basic dispatch and response/on-scene monitoring?

Question 4 (Palm Springs)
I see 800Mhz FM for PD primary and secondary. Is this still in use and reliable?

Question 5 (West Palm Beach)
I see WPB has patched conventional P25 800 meg multicast channels. Is this still in use and reliable?

 

[Bote]

Now I will end with one thing...and this is not an attack on this site, but I have sat in meetings and when feeds start showing up online with PD talkgroups, things may change.

I have sat in meetings as well and asked this question point-blank: the answer is that police don't want "ambulance chasers" getting in the way of public safety personnel on the scene, regardless of how they heard the info.

Now, call me madcap, but I would assume that a tick who is that determined will have his own scanner so that he has complete control over what he hears; this means that streaming scanner feeds are NOT the problem in the first place. YAY LOGIC!

The truth of the matter is that the cops don't want us to know how much time they spend writing reports and going on food breaks

 

[N4KVE]

Question 4 (Palm Springs)
I see 800Mhz FM for PD primary and secondary. Is this still in use and reliable?

Long gone. On the county trunking system now.

 

[N4DES]

Question 3 (Palm Beach County EMS)
I see PBC is served by AMR. The database lists the UHF ambulance to hospital channels, but what is their main dispatch channels (or system). What do ya'll reccomend for basic dispatch and response/on-scene monitoring? PBCFR and the majority of the municipalities are no longer using AMR/Medics for transport. They do it themselves.

Question 4 (Palm Springs)
I see 800Mhz FM for PD primary and secondary. Is this still in use and reliable? No longer in use.

Question 5 (West Palm Beach)
I see WPB has patched conventional P25 800 meg multicast channels. Is this still in use and reliable? To my knowledge, no longer in use.

 

[APX8000]

Police radio traffic is very overrated. Although no call is “routine”, it is for the most part...hours upon hours of everyday calls with moments of excitement. I for one am very happy to shut off the radio when I get home and only listen to Fire.

 

[N4KVE]

It gets boring fast. But it was interesting when the “Eagle” [helicopter] was overhead looking for Homie dee Clown.

 

[Bote]

I've even gotten bored with the constant fire/EMS calls from idiots with cell phones for the dead guy lying in the grass, who turns out to be a homeless guy trying to get some shut-eye under the shade of a tree.

But y'all want them to say something if they see something so this is the unfortunate result. Reap what you sow.

At least the railroads keep things interesting, on good old conventional analog FM at that.

 

[N4KVE]

At least the railroads keep things interesting, on good old conventional analog FM at that.

I sometimes listen to 161.1 when driving down I-95.

 

[JimD56]

I am a Fire Lieutenant for MDFR so I can provide some insight into the REAL talk groups that are utilized daily for the Miami-Dade County Agencies. MOST PD and ALL Fire is in the CLEAR, the only real ENC for the county, and the shared municipal agencies, are their SWAT, NARC, and some car to car.

Miami-Dade Police and Agencies that "piggyback" the MDPD P25 Phase I EDACS System.

15023 3aaf D MDPD 1 Northwest Dispatch (Mike) - Miami Lakes, Opa Locka
15024 3ab0 D MDPD 2 Northside Dispatch (North)
15025 3ab1 D MDPD 3 Midwest Dispatch (Delta)- West Miami, Virginia Gardens
15026 3ab2 D MDPD 4 Cutler Ridge Dispatch (Charlie) - Florida City, Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay
15027 3ab3 D MDPD 5 Kendall Dispatch - Kendall, South Miami
15028 3ab4 D MDPD 6 Intracoastal Dispatch (India) - Sunny Isles, Golden Beach, Miami Shores
15029 3ab5 D MDPD 7 MIA Dispatch - Airport
15030 3ab6 D MDPD 8 Hammocks Dispatch
15031 3ab7 D Station 9 Dispatch [future use]
15032 3ab8 D Station 10 Dispatch - Seaport
15033 3ab9 D HQ Disp Headquarters Dispatch Law Dispatch
15034 3aba D Mun PD Municipal 2 Dispatch - Surfside, Biscayne Park, N Bay Village, N Miami, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, El Portal, Indian Creek
15035 3abb D Mun PD 3 Municipal 3 Dispatch - Doral, Sweetwater, Hialeah Gardens

Miami-Dade County Fire (See RR Database)
UHF 450-460mhz IN THE CLEAR, $20 Baofeng works fine
The 4 Dispatch Channels, MIA, and the 6 Tactical Channels are the only ones utilized.

Hialeah is NOW on their New System P25 Phase II (See RR Database)
Hialeah Fire is in the CLEAR
Hialeah PD is ENC

City of Miami is NOW on their New System P25 Phase II (See RR Database)
Fire is in the CLEAR
PD Has 5 Dispatch Channels ALL in the CLEAR

Miami-Beach (See RR Database)
ALL FIRE and PD is in the CLEAR
Only 2 PD Dispatch Channels and only 1 Fire Dispatch Channel

Aventura PD - ALL ENC don't bother

Coral Gables - Digital Simulcast (See RR Database)
Just 1 each channel of PD and Fire Dispatch in the CLEAR

BROWARD COUNTY as discussed is in the middle of a HUGE migration over to P25 Phase II Digital with SIMULCAST. As of Sept 21, 2020, the migration date has been pushed. You will need an SDS Scanner and keep listening daily for talk groups migrating.

Coral Springs/Plantation/Fort Lauderdale will reside on a separate P25 Phase II system and they already reside there. (See RR Database)

 

[APX8000]

The Miami-Dade P25 is NOT an EDACS system. It is built by Harris but two completely separate technologies.

And I would never recommend a Baofeng for anything but a trash can.

 

[N4KVE]

And I would never recommend a Baofeng for anything but a trash can.

While I totally agree with this, I think his point was since this system is still analog conventional, even a Baofeng is capable of listening to them. Oh, they make great targets at 50 yards.

 

[JimD56]

Gee my mistake my Interoperability Radio is a GE/Ericsson, Not Harriss, that sits in my office where I listen to PD.
I agree about the Baofeng it is just the cheapest alternative for the ONLY UHF conventional Public Safety system in ALL of Miami-Dade or Broward County.

 

[APX8000]

There was rumblings of MDFR building out their own P25 trunked system separate from the County system. You hear anything further on that or you guys staying put on UHF ?